INDEX OF NAVAL

AIRCRAFT CARRIERS

HMS INDEFATIGABLE

Fleet Aircraft Carrier

History

HMS Indefatigable was built by John Brown, laid down 3 November 1939,
launched 8 December 1942 and commissioned 3 May 1944. She joined the British
Pacific Fleet in 1945 where she received superficial damage from a kamakaze
hit. Sjhe was on reserve between 1946-1949, became a training carrier 1950-1954.
Stricken 1956 and broken up.

Indefatigable was ordered in 1939 and her sister ship in the Implacable
Class, HMS Implacable was ordered a year earlier. In response to
a Naval Staff requirement for greater speed and increased aircraft complement,
an extra turbine and shaft were installed and the lower hangar was extended
forward so that it was 46 feet longer than that in Indomitable. The armour
plating on the hangar sides was increased to 2", and the height of the
lower hangar was lowered by 2 feet so that both hangars had an overhead
clearance of only 14 feet. The result was very cramped accommodation spaces,
and a restriction on the type of aircraft that could be operated - the
hangars were too low for Corsairs, and due to the unavailability of Hellcats
the ships were compelled to carry short-range Seafires. The main external
differences were the much enlarged funnel and longer island.

Construction was halted in 1940 by order of Winston Churchill, and even
after it was resumed little priority was given to their completion. Implacable
took 5 years to build, and by the time she was completed Indefatigable
her sister was fully operational and already at sea in combat.

After a short period of operations with the Home Fleet, both ships went
to the Pacific, where their larger air groups were responsible for the
majority of sorties flown by the carriers of the British Pacific Fleet.

The war service of Indefatigable commenced when she was involved in
deck-landing trials achieving a 'first' with the first-ever deck landing
by a twin engine aircraft, a de Havilland Mosquito. She then joined the
Home Fleet in July 1944, to take part in the attacks on the German Battleship
Tirpitz in Norway, with Operaytion Mascot of 17 July 1944, then subsequently
a further series of attacks on the Tirpitz on 22, 24 and 29 August 1944
as part of Operation Goodwood.

Taken shortly after the Operation Goodwood II strike
on 22 August 1944.Tirpitz is located in the upper right corner, hiding
behind the smoke.

24 August 1944. The British Force turns into the wind
to launch the third strike of Operation "Goodwood III". Left to right on
the photograph is Formidable, Devonshire, Indefatigable and Duke of York

HMS Indefatigable was modified for Pacific service between October-November
1944 and then joined the Eastern Fleet in November 1944. She led air strikes
against an oil refinery at Medan with HMS Indomitable and HMS Victorious
on 4 January 1945, then in air strikes against Palembang on 24 and 29 January
1945.

Following a period at Sydney in February 1945, she took part in air
strikes against Sakishima Gunto and Formosa in March-April 1945. She was
the first British ship to be hit by a Kamikaze when serving with the British
Pacific Fleet on 1 April 1945. However, however she quickly recovered and
became fully operational within 1 hour. She subsequently took part in further
strikes against Sakishima Gunto in May 1945. By the end of these operations
Indefatigable had contributed one-third of the Fleet Air Arm sorties flown
between 26 March and 25 May 1945.

In June 1945 she was at Sydney - machinery breakdown delayed sailing.
She then took part in air strikes against Japanese home islands between
24 July-10 August 1945. Indefatigable operated with the American Third
Fleet in Japanese waters between 10 August-2 September and her aircraft
flew what was officially the last sortie of the war on 15 August 1945,
where her seafires shot down 8 enemy aircraft.

HMS Indefatigable flightdeck, Tasman Sea, November 1944

Indefatigable was at the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay on 3 September
1945, and returned to Sydney on 17 September, after which she repatriated
POWs from Japan to Sydney between October-November 1945.

Post war in December 1945 she sailed for New Zealand and return to Sydney,
finally departing Sydney at the end of January 1946 for the UK where she
arrived on 15 March 1946. She was paid off and put into reserve in December
1946. Post war Indefatigable was recommissioned as a boys training ship
in 1950, had her hangars converted to classrooms and accommodation space.
Neither ship was significantly modernised, and both were only 10 years
old when paid off in August 1954. She was towed to Dalmuir late 1956 for
scrapping. Broken up at Troon.

The Implacable Class carriers were a follow-on from the
Illustrious class which took Indomitable's modifications a stage further
with a full length two-level hangar. Hangar height was even less than in
the Illustrious' due to an attempt to stay within the London Naval Treaty's
limitations on displacement. By the end of the war, deck parking allowed
81 aircraft to be carried. The lack of hangar height rendered the ships
almost useless after the war, unable to operate many modern aircraft.